MINDING THE GAP Criterion Review: Meaning for Ourselves

MINDING THE GAP Criterion Review: Meaning for Ourselves

Over the past decade, there have been many documentaries that capture the heart and soul of their subjects with raw, unfiltered honesty, but perhaps none quite on the level of Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap. The film, released in 2018, documents the lives of Bing Liu (the film’s director) and two close friends named Keire Johnson…

Vampa: Vampire & Paranormal Museum in Lambertville, New Jersey

Vampa: Vampire & Paranormal Museum in Lambertville, New Jersey

Tucked away on the second floor of an antiques store in a small New Jersey town lies a shockingly large collection of antique vampire-killing sets. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonCovering the walls are the standard tools of the vampire hunter: the stake, the crucifix, the holy water bottle. But the stakes are far…

Second Opinion: A Semi-Defense of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

Second Opinion: A Semi-Defense of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

As the resident Conservative Who Doesn’t Care About Left-Wing Overtones In Movies And Doesn’t Think You Should, Either, I’m here to say “Wonder Woman 1984” is, hold your breath… just fine. Exhale. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIf you go into the movie, as I did, with modest expectations and not looking…

Jelgava Palace in Jelgava, Latvia

Jelgava Palace in Jelgava, Latvia

The riverside façade of Jelgava Palace is magnificent. Designed by the court architect of Imperial Russia, Bartolomeo Rastrelli of Winter Palace fame, its baroque exterior is graced by ornate windows and striking cast-iron medallions. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWith 669 rooms, 674 windows, 615 doors, and 25 chimneys, the palace served as…

Wooden Quilt Doors in New Orleans, Louisiana

Wooden Quilt Doors in New Orleans, Louisiana

Pedestrians in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood might notice a collection of beautiful, patchwork wooden doors. Known as “wooden quilts,” the colorful interwoven entryways showcase one artist’s incredible craftsmanship and history. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonJean-Marcel St. Jacques is a self-taught folk artist with deep roots in the Louisiana soil. A 12th-generation…

Snake Rock in Marlborough, Connecticut

Snake Rock in Marlborough, Connecticut

The wonderfully painted rock juts up out of the ground along a wooded road in Marlborough, Connecticut. Not only are the roadside wonder’s origins a mystery, but its form remains a question as well: Most call it Snake Rock, but some refer to it as Turtle Rock, insisting that the small clumps of stones on…

What’s New to Stream on Amazon Prime for January 2021

What’s New to Stream on Amazon Prime for January 2021

Crossing the Streams is our monthly look at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month, and this time we’re checking out the new Amazon Prime arrivals for January 2021. This month’s titles include a fantastic directorial debut from Regina King, some classic Westerns, genre films you might have missed in 2020, and…

To Make Japan’s Original Sushi, First Age Fish for Several Months

To Make Japan’s Original Sushi, First Age Fish for Several Months

In the Japanese city of Wakayama, a stone’s throw away from ancient castle ruins and the Kumano river, a 74-year-old restaurant called Toho Chaya specializes in an ancient form of sushi. To make narezushi, the restaurant packs rice inside salty fish carcasses and ages them for months. Toho Chaya has always done things the old-fashioned…

Staff Inquiry: Top Tens of 2020

Staff Inquiry: Top Tens of 2020

2020 has finally ended and we here at Film Inquiry want to look back at one of the few bright spots it had to offer: the amazing movies. We asked our writers to give their individual top ten films of the year, and since they have varying tastes and are flung across the world, their…

An Australian Town’s Identity Rests on a Ship That May Not Exist

An Australian Town’s Identity Rests on a Ship That May Not Exist

The afternoon is overcast, the ocean churning, between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, on the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia. A man and woman carry shovels and a metal detector along the beach. I ask if they are looking for Warrnambool’s notorious wreck, the Mahogany Ship. Without hesitation, the man answers: “I’ve been searching for the…

“I Wanted To Find A Way To Make A Story That Was Palatable And Not Just Doom And Gloom.” Interview With Matt Lanter And Cindy Jansen, Star And Director Of CHASING THE RAIN

“I Wanted To Find A Way To Make A Story That Was Palatable And Not Just Doom And Gloom.” Interview With Matt Lanter And Cindy Jansen, Star And Director Of CHASING THE RAIN

Cindy Jansen‘s directorial debut, Chasing The Rain, feels like the perfect film for 2020, one which attempts to see, step by step, which straw will break the camel’s back. The camel, in this case, is Eric, played coarsely by Matt Lanter (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). A young man whose passion for photography is only matched by his…

Found: A Nazi ‘Enigma’ Machine at the Bottom of a Bay

Found: A Nazi ‘Enigma’ Machine at the Bottom of a Bay

When the marine biologist Michael ßwat descended to the seabed of the Bay of Gelting on the western edge of the Baltic Sea, he noticed a contraption tangled up in the fishing line the crew had headed down to collect. The device, which at first seemed like an old typewriter sitting under at least 30…

SHADOWS: A Ship In A Bottle

SHADOWS: A Ship In A Bottle

I used to be obsessed with miniature ships in bottles. For hours I would stare into them, fascinated by the patience and meticulousness constructing such a thing required and even more fascinated by the sheer detail put into the endeavor; marring the surfaces and sails of the small tableau were scars, scratches, holes, contours, and…

Sin Fronteras short film review

Sin Fronteras short film review

★★★★ Directed by: Ricardo Perez-Selsky Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Ricardo Perez-Selsky Starring: Alexis Johnson, Amber Lee Ettinger, Luis Cubas Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Jason Knight In Mexico, a desperate woman goes to extreme lengths in an attempt to…

Church of Agia Fotini Mantineias in Tripoli, Greece

Church of Agia Fotini Mantineias in Tripoli, Greece

This unique Greek Orthodox church is located on a plain where the ancient city of Mantineia was formerly situated. Construction on the church began in 1969 and it was inaugurated in 1978. No cement was used during the building process, only natural materials such as stone, marble, wood, and tiles. Read moreA Guide to The…

Wreck of the Steamship Helena in Bigfork, Montana

Wreck of the Steamship Helena in Bigfork, Montana

In the years before roads and automobiles made commuting around Flathead Lake easier, steamships ruled the waves. The Helena stood out among the fleet of ferries in that it allowed the communities around the lake to flourish. Constructed in 1915 by James Kehoe, the Helena was cobbled together from salvaged parts including its engine, which was…

THE LITTLE THINGS Trailer

THE LITTLE THINGS Trailer

The hunt is on for a serial killer in The Little Things, the latest from writer/director John Lee Hancock. Deke and Jimmy aren’t the most natural partners. They’re from different agencies, for one thing, and Jimmy has been playing the game to move quickly up the career ladder while Deke has remained a deputy. That doesn’t…

Rodalquilar Gold Mine in Rodalquilar, Spain

Rodalquilar Gold Mine in Rodalquilar, Spain

The surviving structures of the Denver mining plant hang precariously off a hillside above the town of Rodalquilar, located inside the Cabo de Gata Natural Park. The mine reached its peak during the 1950s, as the belief grew that vast deposits of gold were hidden underground. However, the state-sponsored enterprise failed to meet expectations and…

How Greenland Shows the Exact Way to Make a Good Disaster Film

How Greenland Shows the Exact Way to Make a Good Disaster Film

I wouldn’t go as far as to call “Greenland” a masterpiece but it’s certainly one of the biggest cinematic surprises in a while. It spent three weeks in theaters without much fanfare here in Mexico until they shut down again this weekend. This makes sense, after all, not many people were going to risk a trip…